Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Daly. I take on board his concerns and the point he made about the issue relating to Northern Irish milk. As Minister, I am aware of it and we hope to continue to address it. Mr. Savage outlined the challenges and issues relating to market supports, etc. As agreements to trade internationally with third countries fall due for renegotiation, it will be important that we try to address the issue. It is a challenge as matters stand.

On the contingency for capacity, I will deal with that first and then ask Ms Sheridan, head of our import controls and operations division, to come in and provide an update and full overview on how things are going, on throughput and on the contingency planning we have done. We have very much been planning for this. The Senator is right that it has been greatly facilitated so far by the fact that throughput is down significantly in comparison with previous years. I will ask Ms Sheridan to address that point shortly.

On the Brexit adjustment reserve, the markets and prices have thankfully remained fairly solid so far. There is no doubt that Brexit is presenting additional challenges in the context of exports to Britain. We will monitor the situation closely. The Government has been clear from the outset regarding how it worked with the agrifood sector to prepare in advance and also that we would stand ready to work with it as Brexit evolved afterwards. I am monitoring the situation closely . The purpose of the Brexit adjustment reserve is to support those sectors that are most impacted. Thankfully, we achieved 25% of the total allocation. That is a reflection of the fact that people at European level understand that we are particularly exposed. There is ongoing engagement with Europe about how that money can be spent. I will be engaging with the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Finance on the latter. It is important that the money is used effectively. My specific focus, priority and commitment is that farm incomes will be central in how we look at the year ahead and at the impact of Brexit.

Thankfully, the issue relating to Article 16 was resolved. This should not have happened in the first instance. It has been recognised at European level that what happened was both a mistake and misguided. In many ways, we were blindsided by it in the context of how it evolved in the context of the dispute relating to the AstraZeneca vaccine. I do not foresee this mistake being repeated. On foot of the Taoiseach's engagement with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Prime Minister Johnson, and that of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney's, engagement with Vice-President Šefovi and Minister Michael Gove, the matter has been resolved.

It certainly was not helpful. We all know how challenging and sensitive the Brexit situation is from an all-island point of view and a Northern Ireland point of view. The North-South protocol is a really important mechanism by which Northern Ireland, while remaining constitutionally part of the UK and part of the UK customs regime, has access to the Single Market as well. There are opportunities for Northern Ireland around that and it is really important that it has access to both.

That does not come without its challenges but it is really important that we work together to try to ensure that it operates as smoothly as possible and that the importance of it is respected. While the incident at the end of last week was not helpful, it was resolved quickly. It is important there is really strong recognition among ourselves, Europe and the British Government of the importance of the North-South protocol from a Northern Irish point of view.

On the point about contingencies, current capacity and planning for scaling that up, I will ask Hazel Sheridan to come in on that.